Finally, some budget moves

March 13, 2013

Well, Paul Ryan presented a new Republican budget plan Tuesday that will supposedly balance the federal budget in 10 years.

Interestingly, his new budget plan keeps some of the spending cuts that were excoriated in his previous proposal (including defunding Obamacare), but it also includes $3.2 trillion in new revenue over the coming decade.

Yup, he has decided that he will keep the tax increase (or at least the revenues from it) that was approved to avert the "fiscal cliff." This is sure to draw some howls from the right.

According to The Washington Post, Ryan's new plan adopts the Congressional Budget Office's projections of $40.2 trillion in revenues for the next decade. The CBO's numbers include the tax increase. Ryan's budget will face a vote in the House in the next few days.

Ryan also indicated that he is willing to compromise and is waiting to see the Senate's budget plans. The Post reported that Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray is working on her own version of the budget that will have fewer spending cuts and more taxes paid by the wealthy and corporations.

President Barack Obama is visiting Capitol Hill this week and meeting separately with Republican and Democratic members of Congress to try to forge a new budget deal.

All in all, this activity seems to indicate that the sequester has gotten the attention of our leaders in Washington. They finally are going to turn their attention to the government's budget mess.